Chemical propulsion systems use the energy of combination of a fuel and an oxidant to heat an expanding gas. Current liquid propellant technology yields a maximum specific impulse of 410s propellant using H.sub.2 as a fuel and O.sub.2 as an oxidant. Current solid propellant technology yields a maximum specific impulse of about 265s propellant for a typical solid propellant formulation using aluminum as a fuel and ammonium perchlorate as an oxidant.
An approach to increasing the performance of chemical propulsion systems is to replace the conventional oxidant with a higher energy compound. Despite extensive research, progress in the synthesis of new high energy oxidants has been slow.